To be Acknowledged
by Sue-Drae
Summary: "I started because I wanted to be recognized… Then I wanted to be the Hokage just to rub it in the face of everyone who told me I couldn't… Now... I just want to protect all of my precious people, because they were able to care about me before I could." After being forced into the light, a better trained Naru is thrown onto a new team, but Asuma is mostly sure he can make it work.
1. Chapter 1

Just a quick A/N to give you all a little warning:

This story does have a sort of slow burn at the beginning. The plot is divergent from canon starting pretty early, so the Rookie Nine team formation isn't until chapter 11. There's a lot that happens between the start of the story and then that is important to explain why some characters are slightly or overtly OOC, so please be patient with me.

Naru was born a girl and everyone is aware of it. Right now, I don't have any plans in regards to pairings but if someone _really_ wants to see something, let me know in a review and I'll consider it. If I do add a pairing, it won't be for a long while though. The story starts when Naru is almost eight, so she's not exactly looking for romantic love.

That should be it! I hope you like it!

* * *

As she grew closer and closer, the sound of metal striking metal echoed through the trees, coming at her with louder and more violent strikes. Voices drifted towards her and, ever so carefully, she inched her way nearer to the fight.

Judging from their headbands, there was a Suna team—each of the three probably fourteen or fifteen—and a single Iwa genin around thirteen years old battling it out. Even with the odds stacked against the lonely genin, he was giving the Suna team a run for their money. So far, one of the Suna genin was already mostly out of commission thanks to a large gash running down his side. His shirt was slashed open, showing the grisly wound made all the uglier by the blood steadily escaping him. The boy was somehow still conscious but too dazed from blood loss to help his teammates. His teammates, a boy and a girl, were trying their best to fend off the Iwa boy while defending their comrade, but the enemy persisted.

Naru watched with a curious horror as the Iwa genin was slashed across the stomach with the unhurt Suna boy's puppet. The Iwa boy looked down, shocked, before falling apart, melting into a column of mud.

He reappeared from the shadows of a tree and, pulling out a wide wakizashi from a sheath on his back, cleanly sliced the Suna boy across the stomach, a brutal vengeance for the damage done to his earth clone. Red bloomed across the Suna boy's dark blue shirt, dying the cloth an unhealthy black color. The girl yelled in anger and fear, launching a flurry of kunai and shuriken at her opponent as her teammate fell to the ground, coughing and gasping for breath.

Curious horror fell away to sick fascination as the Iwa genin, a savage grin on his face, swiftly defeated the girl. Then, calmly and methodically, he went to the genin and stabbed each through the heart with his wakizashi. He rummaged through the pockets of each before pulling a scroll from the girl's pouch. Content with his prize, the genin left behind the bloody mess and disappeared into the woods.

Naru waited ten minutes before daring to go down to the remains of the Suna team, biting her lip to avoid either crying or throwing up. She'd seen the aftermath of these small battles before but, to see the life leave the eyes of someone just a few years older than her… It was something very different.

When Naru finally built up the courage to go to the dead genin, she carefully arranged their bodies so that they were lying in a row, closing their eyes with a lump in her throat. She laid the puppet at the feet of its master but left their weapons otherwise untouched. She would give them that dignity in death.

Their faces were still frozen in terror and pain.

Naru forced her mind away from that day, returning most of her attention to the chart she was busily drawing in her notebook. When she was finished, she turned in her seat to face Inuzuka Kiba, one of the boys in her Academy class and one of the few she could stand. Kiba was fun, loud, and confident. He was the blueprint for her idiot mask, though Naru took it much further. Shaking the last of the memories away, she smiled broadly.

"See, it's cool! Each set means one letter. So, depending on the sequence, anyone could send a message through—"

"Uzumaki!" At the voice, Naru turned back to the teacher, a falsely cheery look on her face.

"Hai, Amaya-sensei?"

"What are you doing?" the female chuunin all but growled. Naru grinned brightly.

"I was showing Kiba Morse code." At the student's words, the chuunin scoffed derisively.

"Well, stop it. Morse code is a heavily flawed system consisting of pointless and outdated finger-drumming with no practical use for a shinobi. More so, it is not part of this curriculum. Perhaps if you focused more on the subjects I teach in this class instead of _Morse code,_ of all things, then you would be doing better."

"But Morse code is relevant to shinobi life! During the Third War-"

"The Third Great Shinobi War has been over for over ten years. Coding and encryption systems have been developed since then to be more efficient and harder to break, nullifying any use to Morse code, Uzumaki. At this day and age, it is a useless skill that is not required for any level of shinobi."

"Do you know Morse code, sensei?" the nine year old asked back innocently. Amaya glowered at the young student.

"I just said that Morse code isn't required for any level of shinobi."

"Then would you like me to teach it to you? Maybe then you'd see how useful it is."

"That's enough from you," the chuunin growled, pointing at the door. "I will not have you wasting the time of students willing to learn the set curriculum. You may return when you are prepared to learn."

Taking the opportunity and trying her hardest to look crestfallen, Naru gathered her things, subtly placing the Morse code cheat-sheet in front of Kiba as she left, ignoring the snickers arising from the majority of the class.

As soon as Naru crossed the threshold and was out of sight, she took a shuddering breath. She was risking exposure by staying in class for as long as she did, but she needed to be able to explain why she managed to stay in the Academy program. If she was never in class, people might get suspicious and ask why she doesn't fail out. Her mask couldn't afford that.

Naru rushed home, customarily putting on a henge of a nondescript chuunin so she could easily run across the rooftops without being stopped or questioned. Once she was close enough to her dingy building, she silently dropped into an alley, intending to walk the rest of the way so she could be seen in public for appearances' sake.

As soon as she was safely within her apartment, she put her hands together in a single sign, muttering _kai_ under her breath. At once, the genjutsu layered around her body fell apart and her appearance began to shift. Her cropped sun-kissed blond hair grew longer, just past her shoulder blades, and straightened out slightly, losing some of its spikiness. Her cerulean blue eyes grew just a touch narrower and a shade lighter, to match a cloudless summer sky. The girl's shoulders became slimmer, her arms and legs growing longer and more graceful. Her face lost some of its roundness as some of her baby fat melted away. The genjutsu now completely gone, Naru frowned as she rubbed her shoulders.

She was strangely lucky that she was normally kicked out of class—it meant she could get away and recover from the genjutsu's effects faster—but it was still discomforting to wear it for any length of time. She had once tried to wear it for an entire day but by sundown her skin was crawling and her stomach refused to accept food. That wasn't good for her; she needed to eat at every opportunity she could. She simply burned off the calories too quickly for her to eat like a normal kid and stay healthy.

Unfortunately, she had to wear it whenever she was in sight of the public. It was easier to pass off being weak if she didn't look physically strong. By making herself appear to be an easier target, she actually reduced some of the attacks on her, even if she didn't understand the civilian mobs' logic behind it.

At age nine, Naru had seen more than her fair share of lynch mobs. While they normally didn't get close enough to physically hurt her, the crowd's intentions of doing her in were plain enough. Shaking away the thoughts, Naru glanced around her flat.

Through some careful manipulation of the war orphan fund, the Sandaime had arranged for the three story building—which had been held in stasis after the original owner had died without any inheritors, leaving the property to be reclaimed by Konoha—to be Naru's residence after she was expelled from the orphanage. With no other residents in the building, it was hers to do as she pleased and the girl was happy to do some renovating. It was a trial and error sort of affair since she couldn't exactly hire a contractor but, by the end of her renovations, the building served her purposes nicely. Originally, each floor was its own apartment complete with two bedrooms, a kitchen, living space, and bathroom on each level. By reading a lot of do-it-yourself books, Naru converted the first floor to be her true living space. She kept the privacy and convenience of two bedrooms, but the rest of the walls had to go so she could easily see if anything was amiss in her space. This open floor plan made it more dangerous for her, given that she had fewer potential hiding places if anyone managed to get in, but one of her few nice neighbors—a half-blind old man that had been a veteran of the Second Shinobi War—knew a few things about seals and had showed her how to set up basic protections without killing herself.

The second floor had been totally gutted and, with a few personal additions, turned into a sort of gym. Since she couldn't afford the real things just yet, Naru had made improvised weights, such as milk jugs filled with sand, which now dotted the room. A few blunt sets of shuriken and kunai from the Hokage were neatly stored on a shelf on one side of the room. Stones collected over time outlined a rough track around the large room. A log—which had been rather awkward to bring to the building—was leaning on one wall. It was battered and cracked—showing both her successful and failed attempts at Kawarimi.

The third floor was dedicated to improving her mind. While not able to afford many books due to her status as the village pariah, Naru had relieved the Academy of a few unused books, from which she had learned the Kawarimi and the Henge. Once she'd mastered the Henge, she could buy more and more books at the normal price, and she began filling roughly made bookshelves with books on all sorts of subjects. Her real treasure, though, was the many clan texts she'd collected over the years. Once clan scrolls were deemed no longer usable, most of the clans merely copied the information onto a new scroll and threw out the original with the regular garbage. Only a few, such as the Uchiha, were appropriately paranoid enough to actually burn the scrolls once they'd outlived their usefulness. By periodically rifling through the trash, Naru had gotten scrolls or books unknowingly donated to her collection from the majority of Konoha's clans and well known shinobi families. She swore upon finding the first text that she wouldn't use the information she learned against her allies and, at the same time, there was a lot in the texts that she couldn't use without a bloodline. Even so, knowledge was power. From weapon comparisons from the newly established Arai family to shogi strategies from the Nara clan, Naru had a wealth of fun facts drifting through her mind.

It was the Kurama clan that accidentally contributed a basic genjutsu scroll to Naru's repertoire. It was from that scroll that she had learned the genjutsu that allows her to pass off as weak to the villagers.

Genjutsu was extremely difficult for Naru. It had taken mind numbing hours of chakra control exercises—found in a scroll scavenged from the Hyuuga—for her to even be capable of that one technique. She'd never regret those long training sessions though. She honed her chakra control enough to master the Henge and the Kawarimi, even if the Bunshin was out of her grasp. She simply could not manipulate a small enough portion of her chakra to make fewer than twenty passable clones.

Naru knew she'd have to get even better. While she was ahead of her fellow nine year olds by miles, there was a chance that the civilian council would still try to screw her over. While she didn't know exactly what she'd done to deserve their ire, Naru knew that the civilian council was out to get her and she knew that, to even be a genin, she'd have to be so strong that she couldn't possibly fail. But no one could know. Training her body with the older Academy students had gotten her kicked out of the orphanage; Naru didn't want to know what would happen to her if the civilians realized she was teaching herself ninjutsu. So she trained in secret, in the privacy of her home. She learned from her scrolls and books and watched as jounin senseis taught their teams.

One of Naru's first memories took place when she was just three or four—before she'd been kicked out of the orphanage. Naru remembered going with the other young children to see the village gates. While she was there, a chuunin squad was returning from a difficult B-ranked mission. One of the ninja, a man, had been injured and was forced to rely heavily on his teammate to even walk. Even so, without any visible cue, a small crowd melted from the hustle and bustle of Konoha and surrounded the four chuunin. The shinobi were congratulated, questioned, and _acknowledged_ , even after what was obviously a partial failure. Naru aspired to one day be one of them, a kunoichi, and Naru was never one to bet against.


	2. Chapter 2

The tenth of October was always a difficult day for Naru. It was her birthday, but it was also the anniversary of the Kyuubi's attack and, as such, was the date of the festival celebrating the Yondaime's victory over the bijuu. While her peers were celebrating with their friends and families, exchanging presents and handmade cards, and eating all of the sugar they could get their hands on, Naru was often running for her life. She learned early and quickly that to step out of her front door on her birthday was to tempt fate. To be seen outside on October 10th was an invitation to the village populace to take their best shot at hurting her. When she was younger, they had done a good job. But now, even as a now-ten year old, Naru wouldn't take the abuse anymore. She was fast, and she knew it. By her eighth birthday, she had been able to outrun even some chuunin and she'd only gotten faster since.

Even though she wasn't willing to take the abuse, Naru couldn't afford to stand up for herself. As a general rule, she hid away on her birthday but, for today, she'd do something different. It was crazy and she might die, but she liked to think of it as an extended training session. Instead of staying in her apartment while the mobs gathered and tried to break in, she'd be miles away where, instead of just people trying to kill her, _everything_ would try to kill her.

On October 8th, Naru packed up her gear, locked her house up, and headed out down the familiar paths towards the Forest of Death. The Academy would be closed for the next three days to give everyone time to prepare, party, and recover before returning to work so no one would be missing her.

Naru had been in the Forest of Death only a couple of times to test the more complicated tracking techniques described in the Inuzuka scrolls, her ill-fated run-ins with the chuunin exams included, and she knew that it was aptly named. In her past excursions, she tried to not stray far from the perimeter, always being careful to have an escape plan. This time would be different, she told herself. This would be her biggest test yet: three days of survival in the most dangerous place she could find inside of Konoha.

 _Well,_ she thought to herself cheerily, _at least everything in here is honest about trying to kill me._

Gripping a kunai scavenged from the last Chuunin Exams, she took a deep breath and slipped through a tiny hole in the fence. She'd either come out stronger, or never come out at all.

* * *

Knowing that survival would get harder with every hour she spent in the forest, Naru wasted no time in trying to figure out a decent campsite. Nowhere that she'd seen in the training ground was truly great, as if even the land was refusing the go easy on the ten year old, so she was forced to prioritize. Should she value safety and natural protection over proximity to water? Would sleeping here or there reduce her odds of finding plant or animal life that would be safe to eat?

In the end, Naru chose to make her base in the hollow of one of the forest's massive trees. The tree was huge, large enough for her to fully lie down inside its hollow trunk, and there were no signs of recent animal habitation. Her hollow was three dozen feet off of the ground, giving her some protection from grounded predators, but she had spotted broods of tree leeches that she'd have to be careful of. There was a freshwater stream less than a quarter of a mile away and game trails ran nearby her tree. She was reasonably exposed in the trees, but the tree fulfilled as many of her minimal survival needs as she could hope for.

Even so, she fought against the night chill in the air as she tried to reclaim the breath she'd lost. The cold months in Hi no Kuni never got too harsh, but that meant little to Naru as she gripped her thin blanket around her shoulders, exhaling slowly into her gloved hands. Being up in the trees made her an easy target to the wind chill and, having made her camp in the hollow of a tree, Naru didn't dare light a warming fire. Without any other choice, she was left with just her sleeping bag and her threadbare blanket.

Steeling her nerves, Naru withdrew one of the several scrolls she brought into the forest and unrolled it with shaky fingers. The words _Chakra Exercises_ were emblazoned at the top of the paper and, as she continued unfurling the scroll, her new goal appeared: _Using Chakra for Warmth_. Placing her hands in the Tora sign, Naru looked for the familiar wellspring of energy within her, glancing over the scroll one more time.

 _Concentrate on forming fire-natured chakra. Circulate it through your chakra coils, focusing on your core before extending out into your extremities._

Naru took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. It would be a long, cold night.

* * *

Not for the first time, Naru loathed the fact that Academy students didn't have access to the shinobi side of the Konoha Library. The only thing she could access were basic D-rank and E-rank skills which would be taught in the Academy, but even those wouldn't help her in situations like this. Knowing how to untie rope was great, and camouflage was usually helpful, but none of that could help her totally destroy traces of her presence. She had utilized all of the tricks she knew from the Inuzuka scrolls but no amount of mud covering her scent would help her avoid the gaze of the monstrous tiger prowling after her. She pressed closer to the shadows, the rough bark of a tree scratching at her exposed shoulder.

A full day hadn't been gracious to the girl's wardrobe. Her clothes were in tatters and, while she wasn't indecent, the additional exposure of the elements and the environment could only harm her. Those new scratches on her back and shoulder would only be more tiny injuries to add to the long list that was piling up and, as that list grew longer, Naru grew slower and more prone to future injury.

The tiger hesitated as it moved passed Naru's hiding spot and the ten year old held her breath, desperate not to be found. She had tracked the beasts, yes, but she wasn't enough of a fool to think that she could successfully take one of the tigers down in a fight.

With a final growl, the tiger began stalking away from Naru. It was only after the monster had disappeared from sight and earshot that Naru allowed herself to breathe a soft sight of relief.

Unable to wholeheartedly celebrate her continued survival just yet, Naru returned her attention to what she was really attempting on her trip out of the relative safety of her tree. She hadn't eaten since the night before and, with noon already come and gone, she couldn't afford to go much longer without calories. She needed food now, or she wouldn't have the strength to get it later.

Brushing off the near-death experience, Naru leapt back onto the ground and tried relocating the deer tracks she spotted before the tiger came along. Finding the telltale tracks, she clenched her fists and started moving again. Dinner was waiting for her somewhere down that trail; now she had to earn it.

* * *

With a night and a day in the Forest of Death over, Naru took some time to reflect on what had already happened as the deer she'd managed to track cooked on a small but hot fire. For safety, the fire was built some distance from her home-tree in an attempt to keep scavengers and other curious animals a safe distance away.

She learned how to mold and circulate fire natured chakra through her body, allowing her to get some sleep and help keep her body warm without as heavy a consumption of calories. Success.

She trapped the area around her tree-home so that, if anything got too curious, it'd live just long enough to regret it. On top of that, she'd managed to do it without even hurting herself! Success.

She managed to hide her presence enough to trick a ferocious and gigantic tiger into leaving her alone. Success.

She tracked a deer and, with some careful aiming and a couple of kunai, had killed the animal as painlessly as she could. The Nara clan texts on their deer had definitely helped in that aspect so, without shame, she declared that an assisted success.

She poked at her fire with a stick, shifting the wood so that a new side of the log could begin to burn. The forest was thrumming with life around her, somewhat quiet but definitely present, and Naru allowed a sigh to escape her and join the sounds around her. If she let herself take a moment to appreciate the forest around her, she had to admit that it was beautiful. The trees surrounding her were ancient and, despite the dangers that lurked among them, she felt safe in their shade. Everything around her may be trying to kill her, but that was their nature. By setting the goal of kunoichi, Naru would soon join the company of the tigers fighting for survival. She had no delusions that she wouldn't kill for her village eventually, but—like the death of that Suna team in this very forest—that was the way of all ninja.

When Naru set down to sleep with a full stomach and fire chakra circulating through her small frame, a contented smile rested on her face.

When she awoke to the first glimpse of sunlight stretching across the sky, her smile widened briefly.

 _Happy Birthday,_ she congratulated herself. She took a moment to just watch the sunrise before starting her day. She had only survived one day and two nights; she couldn't get cocky now.

* * *

Outside of Naru's temporarily quiet base, the village of Konohagakure was alive and buzzing. The civilians and a hefty majority of the shinobi were caught up in the chaos of preparing for the festival celebrating the defeat of the Kyuubi and the life of the Yondaime. The shinobi that were required on the job mourned their bad luck, but—for the most part—everyone was happy and enjoying the stress-free day.

The Sandaime Hokage was not one of those care-free shinobi on the day of October 10th. As per usual, he had assigned an ANBU guard to watch over the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and he had expected the same general report at dawn: the girl was quiet, staying in her apartment. She hadn't dared be seen outside of her apartment for the last few festivals and the elderly shinobi had assumed that that trend would hold.

Murphy's Law loves the seat of the Hokage, however, and the man was startled almost out of his seat by an equally-alarmed ANBU operative.

"What do you mean, _GONE_?" There was a brief pause before the operative could gather his wits after the Sandaime's enraged outburst.

"As per protocol, I checked the premises for the target's chakra signature and the girl is not present. There were no signs of forced entry but, when I attempted to enter the building, I was repelled by unfamiliar fuinjutsu wards."

"Are you telling me," Hiruzen began, his voice even with an edge of steel, "that a _ten_ _year old_ has locked a _trained ANBU operative_ out of her apartment?"

"Y-Yes, sir."

Muttering about the incompetence of several of the new generation of soldiers under his command, Hiruzen rose out of his chair. His robes whipped around at his feet as he strode out of his apartment, intending to get to the bottom of this situation.

"Get me Inu. _Now_ ," he ordered before leaving the ANBU operative alone in the Hokage's Office. The operative shivered, glad that he was dismissed. This was not the kind and gentle Hokage that the majority of the village saw. The man on his way to the jinchuuriki's apartment was the God of Shinobi, intent on the defense and protection of his surrogate granddaughter and a highly important asset to the village he swore his life to. This was not a man to trifle with.


	3. Chapter 3

Hiruzen knew his way around fuinjutsu theory, even if he wasn't practically strong with the skill. It was he who pointed Jiraiya towards seals—even if his student had quickly surpassed him in that area—because the subject had always interested him. Even if he was much stronger with the theory behind the fuinjutsu instead of the practical application, he still had little trouble identifying and systematically destroying the seals protecting Naru's apartment. Of course, he only did so after personally confirming the ANBU operative's claim that Naru was gone from her home.

 _Did she do these herself?_ Hiruzen asked himself as the seals faded away, their power slipping away as Hiruzen tore the array apart. While the ward wasn't exactly complex, it was still beyond any level that Naru should have been exposed to. She was the orphaned outcast of the village; who would have the patience to teach her or even the desire to provide her with protection seals?

"Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen turned around slowly to see Hatake Kakashi kneeling on the cobblestone street, mask on and gear in perfect order.

"Inu. Do you recognize these?" Hiruzen asked curtly, gesturing to the slowly fading seals on Naru's doorframe. Inu glanced over at the sealing arrays and cocked his head.

"Warding seals?" he guessed uncertainly. "Who placed these?"

"I'm not sure _yet_. Tora has reported that Uzumaki Naru's chakra signature showed that she was not within her house. We are to find her, quickly, before the rest of the village realizes she's missing."

"Yes, sir." Inu's back had straightened and hands clenched into fists under Hiruzen's sharp gaze. He would give this task his full attention. Inu's hands flew into hand signs and, after a flurry of movement, he bit his thumb and slammed his palm onto the street. A small plume of smoke dispersed to show Kakashi's most-used summons, Pakkun.

"I will let you two handle this from this end. I will attempt to find her with my telescope technique. Dismissed."

Inu and Pakkun vanished into the house and Hiruzen made his way back to his office, silently cursing that he hadn't checked his crystal ball already. If Naru had been kidnapped, her kidnappers could be long gone by now. Why didn't he have her under constant guard anymore? Had he failed his village once more? Had… Had he failed Minato?

Several civilians unfortunate enough to stray into the God of Shinobi's path were caught in the low flares of killing intent that emanated from the furious and shamed man. More than one of the poor civilians fell to their knees and, for the first time in decades, they remembered why Sarutobi Hiruzen was their Hokage. He kept them safe because no sane person would be willing to take him on in battle.

* * *

Inu wasn't sure what he had been expecting when he was summoned to the Hokage's side, but _this_ wasn't it. Questions ran through his head at a mile a minute until he managed to snap back into his work mindset. He had an objective and he knew several ways to accomplish it.

"I only smell one scent, boss," Pakkun reported. "Must be the girl's."

Inu knew that was true. Smelling vaguely of upturned dirt, ramen, and something unexpectedly flowery—it could only be Naru.

"Scent's at least a day, maybe two, old. Seems to me that she left willingly."

"Ah. No sign of a struggle." Inu poked around the girl's first floor curiously, looking for clues. After a moment, he frowned. "Does the Academy still do camping exercises?"

"How would I know?" Pakkun scoffed lightly. Inu scowled under his mask but his eyes continued to trace a spot in her closet that, he knew from experience, would have been just large enough for a sleeping roll and pack. Her closet was strange, too. Despite the fact that Naru was normally seen in an obnoxious orange track suit, the majority of the clothes in her closet were dark browns, greens, and blacks. Why would she wear such offensive colors if she had ninja-appropriate gear in her house already?

"Check upstairs. I'll keep looking down here," Inu decided, not entirely sure what else he'd be able to find. Pakkun trotted towards the stairs and disappeared up as Inu continued poking around Naru's belongings. After a moment of finding nothing exciting, he heard Pakkun call from the second floor.

"Uh… Kakashi? You might want to come up here," the pug said, his voice sounding unsure. Frowning, Inu followed his summons up and found himself in a make-shift gym. It was clear that everything had been put together over a long period of time; there was no other way this all could have been accomplished without tipping anyone off. From the sand weights to the rock-lined track, it was clear that Naru wasn't just working towards her goal at the Academy.

Kakashi's eyes wandered onto the stairs heading to the third floor and he automatically started walking towards them. The second floor had been a surprise… what could be on the third?

* * *

Hiruzen frowned as he studied the image in his crystal ball. Naru was in a forest and, from the best he could tell, she was totally alone. She looked like she was in rough shape but, other than that, she seemed perfectly fine.

"Where _are_ you?" he growled in exasperation, waiting for her to move towards an area he could identify. There were millions of trees in Hi no Kuni; how was he to know what forest she was in? The options were cut down quite a bit by the fact that she must still be within Konoha—the chuunin guards wouldn't have let her out—but there were still hundreds of parks and training grounds that she could have wandered onto.

A puff of smoke distracted the elder shinobi away from his crystal ball and, when he glanced down, he spotted Pakkun in front of his desk.

"Hokage-sama, Boss found something in Naru's apartment that he thinks you should see," Pakkun reported vaguely.

"What did he find?" the Hokage asked, frowning.

"I… It might be best that you see it in person," the pug finished, shaking out his shoulders. "Getting too old for this…"

 _Me too,_ Hiruzen thought to himself as he bundled up the crystal ball, lifting it into his arms. He'd be able to check again at Naru's apartment.

* * *

"Wha-What is this?" Hiruzen's question echoed through Naru's library, unanswered for a long moment as both Hokage and jounin simply stared out at the collection. Inu traced a line of small black books on one shelf thoughtfully.

"She has five years of Konoha bingo books and several others from foreign villages dating back to three years ago… I didn't even think the Academy still teaches about bingo books."

"It doesn't," Hiruzen confirmed. "At least, they don't until the end of the final year… She's only been in the Academy for two years. Where did she get all of this?" His hand touched a book left forgotten on small table. The title, though faded from mistreatment, still read _Jutsu that Changed a Generation: The Forgotten Techniques of the Third Shinobi War_. Papers spread next to it on the table were covered in jutsu theory. None that he could see was especially intensive theory, but nothing that he could see would be the norm for ten year old Academy students.

"We'll have to talk to her, but we'll have to track her down first. Track her down and bring her to my office _immediately_ ," Hiruzen ordered, his voice leaving no room for debate. Inu nodded and exchanged a glance with Pakkun. The pug nodded once, lifting his nose to the air to memorize Naru's scent.

"This way!"

Hiruzen watched as Inu and Pakkun went downstairs and, once he heard the front door closing behind them, returned his attention to the library gathered up around him.

 _Does Konoha have a secret prodigy? And did we already manage to_ lose _her?_

* * *

Naru took a deep breath as she tried to steady her heartbeat. She had gotten too cocky as her second day drew to an end and she still had the bristles in her arms to prove it. The Forest of Death was still living up to its name, introducing new terrors to her just as she got used to the old ones. Her newest opponent had come in the form of a fourteen foot tall spider. For such a massive beast, it was surprising agile and it definitely did not appreciate that the ten year old had apparently made her camp in its territory. Naru hadn't managed to defeat it—not by a long shot—but she'd gotten away. She was alive, even if the spider's hoary bristles had stabbed into her arms like senbon.

Without a safe location to call base any more—though she was starting to realize that her camp had never been guaranteed to be safe—Naru retreated to where one of the massive trees had fallen and been hollowed out by time and insect activity. The area wasn't fortified by any means—she was startlingly close to where she had nearly been cornered by the tiger-beast—but it was better than nothing. She needed a securable location to sit, lick her wounds, and revise her strategy.

She had forgotten what her purpose was; she came to the forest to learn how to survive, not how to thrive. She wasn't ready for that yet. It hadn't been a given when she ducked under the fence on that first night that she'd even leave—she'd been a fool to push her luck and get lazy after just a couple of days.

Tomorrow, the 11th, would be her last scheduled day in the Forest of Death. Any longer and people would start looking for her and Naru wasn't even almost prepared to face the consequences of keeping quiet about her training. As it was, though, she could rest assured that no one was the wiser.

She would take this night to heal from her wounds and eat what little of the deer she'd managed to grab before the spider had totally taken over her base. She'd take care leaving the forest tomorrow, trying to avoid getting injured so she would be able to slip through the village without drawing much attention.

* * *

A bizarre feeling tore into Inu's chest as Pakkun tracked Naru's scent further and further away from the village center. They'd gone past most of the training grounds and parks, where Hiruzen seemed to think Naru would be found, and the pair was steadily approaching a very tall fence line. After a moment, Inu decided to classify that emotion as apprehension as the signs declaring training ground forty-four to be extremely dangerous finally became clear enough to read.

"She's in there?" Inu asked hollowly. He knew Pakkun's nose wasn't lying, though. He could, if he focused chakra to his nose like his father had taught him so many years ago, catch the vaguest trace of the girl's scent. Even before Pakkun nodded his confirmation, Inu was frowning and drew his tanto. The Forest of Death was a brutal place, and his almost-sister had managed to get herself in _there_?

He wasn't just bringing her to the Hokage for some… light questioning… This was a rescue mission now.

* * *

The sun was long gone when Naru's eyes snapped awake, her hand closing around a kunai instinctively. She resisted the urge to move and, as her eyes searched the darkness, a dark shape began shifting around at the edge of her temporary camp.

 _Shit!_

She had debated the logic of staying so close to where she had seen the tiger, but she had thought her luck might hold. Evidently not, as the massive shape broke from the tree line and the feline began prowling closer. It took delicate sniffs every few yards and, as Naru watched powerlessly from her position in the fallen tree, she knew that the beast wasn't likely to let her escape twice. If she was found, she was dead. There was only one entrance to the hollow and running would no doubt draw the tiger's attention.

She knew she had to think quickly. Every moment she delayed in acting, the lowly growling beast took another stride closer to her.

Options. _Options!_

A plan began to form in Naru's mind and her hand disappeared into her kunai holster, closing around a small sphere. Holding her breath, she prepared to lob the smoke bomb at the tiger's feet. Her arm wasn't as strong as she'd like and her aim would be best if she could wait until the tiger was closer… closer…

Just before Naru whipped her arm out and released her smoke ball, a wolf's howl interrupted the tiger's hunt. The beast rose from its stalking prowl and its lip curled up in loud growl. The tiger's fangs glowed in the moonlight and Naru held her breath again, waiting to see what would happen. If the tiger could be distracted away…

Another howl rang out in the night, much closer now, and the tiger tensed for action.

Naru wasn't entirely sure what happened in the next few moments, but the tiger suddenly yelped and staggered. It spun and started bounding away, allowing Naru to see the horrific wound on the tiger's side. It likely wasn't that bad considering the animal's size, but blood poured from the wound as the tiger retreated.

Trying to figure out what had happened, Naru returned her attention to where the tiger had stood and her heart skipped a beat as a weight settled in her stomach. An ANBU stood in the moonlight, a bloody tanto held in a loose grip at his side. His animalistic mask was hauntingly familiar to Naru and she swallowed.

"Yeah. You're in _serious_ trouble," Inu informed the ten year old, his voice an emotionless monotone that scared the girl more than any rage could have.

"Ah—hello, Inu-nii-san!" she chimed pleasantly, as if she hadn't been totally, and completely busted.

 _Damn it_.


	4. Chapter 4

If her weapons hadn't been either lost to the forest or confiscated by Inu, Naru was sure that she could have cut the tension within the Hokage's office with a kunai. She had opened her mouth several times—and considering speaking several more times—but her voice failed her each time. Hiruzen seemed content to simply stare at her with a gaze she couldn't understand. There was an edge to his eyes that she had never seen before, but also a sort of sadness or— _dare she think it—_ disappointment behind her Hokage's stony mask. Inu stood behind her, but he had years of practice at not speaking to anyone if he could help it. He stood in a resting position, his hands clasped behind his back with his feet slightly apart, and was altogether no help to the ten year old who was suddenly missing the Forest of Death. At least it was never totally quiet there…

"Would you like to explain yourself?" Hiruzen began very slowly, as if daring her to give the correct response. Naru swallowed, hoping to be able to speak now that it was expected of her.

"I was… training," she said, hoping that he'd accept it.

"In the Forest of Death," Hiruzen continued, as if attempting to make Naru understand the gravity of her actions. Against his expectations, Naru frowned and nodded twice.

"Yeah."

"And how often do you _train_?" was his next question. Naru couldn't force her face into a mask quickly enough to fool her surrogate grandfather. He was clearly able to determine each flit of her emotions, from fear to shame and everything in between.

"Whenever I can," she evaded carefully. The God of Shinobi was not to be trifled with, however, and he narrowed his eyes at the young girl. He lifted a piece of paper from his desk and Naru bit back a grimace when she recognized the pattern on the paper.

"So you do recognize this, then. Would you care to explain how these appeared on your building?" Hiruzen asked seriously. If the wards had been done even slightly incorrectly, the results could have been disastrous for the young jinchuuriki. She may not have even realized the danger she'd been in.

"Kaito-san," she mumbled after a brief moment, deciding that it was best not to lie. It was one thing to be caught training; she knew it would be another to be caught lying to the man who had only good will towards her in the past. If she wasn't careful, she'd lose even that. "Kawako Kaito-san."

Hiruzen racked his memory for a Kawako Kaito, hiding a frown when his memory failed him. Try as he might, he had been Hokage for far too long. It might not be as obvious to the younger generation, but there was no way that the old man could remember names as old as his when there were so many others being thrown about.

"Did Kawako place these seals for you?"

"Yes… He tried to show me how to do them myself, but he thought it'd be safer to apply the seals himself until I got better at my handwriting," Naru admitted in a soft voice. Kaito had been kind to her. She hoped she wasn't nailing his coffin with each word about him. Desperate to throw the attention off of the old man, Naru changed the subject. "How did you know I wasn't home?"

"The ANBU stationed at your home for the festival recognized that your chakra signature was absent," Hiruzen answered honestly. He took a brief pause and Naru saw something immensely sad flicker in his eyes. "Why would you leave your apartment for a place like the Forest of Death?"

"I was training," Naru repeated. "I wanted… I wanted to know if I were strong enough yet."

"For whatever for, child? You're just a student," Hiruzen reminded her, his eyes betraying his age as the God of Shinobi subsided to allow Naru's jiisan appear. "Though I suppose I will have to renew my assessment of your abilities, given what Inu and I saw in your apartment."

"You went inside?" Naru asked with wide eyes. Her heart beat quickened as her head ran through the potential scenarios. Was she in trouble? Would she be punished now?

Her runaway thoughts crashed to a halt when the leader of Konohagakure began to chuckle quietly.

"You're not in trouble, though I am both curious and concerned. Bingo books, Naru?"

She bit the inside of her cheek. She had collected the majority of those from the Chuunin Exams. She would _definitely_ be in trouble if he knew about that…

"I like to read," she evaded. "I like learning about strong ninja. If I want to be Hokage, I have to know who all the strong ninja are, right?"

"I suppose that doesn't hurt," Hiruzen admitted with a sigh. "But that does not excuse your behavior, young lady! You have not explained yourself!"

"I—" Naru's voice drifted off and she realized that she didn't know what to tell the old man in front of her. After studying the sincere looking worry in his eyes for just a moment longer, she settled on the most painful option: the truth. "I know that some people don't like me much, ojiisan. I wanted to train in the forest so I could avoid them and so I could know how strong I am… I won't be able to graduate from the Academy until I'm really strong. I want to make sure I can do it. I can't be Hokage if I can't graduate."

"No… But that does not excuse training alone in such a dangerous place, _especially_ without telling anyone. I had thought you'd been kidnapped!"

"Why would anyone have kidnapped me?" Naru asked, cocking her head to the side questioningly. Hiruzen mentally cursed his slip-up and back tracked.

"Anything might have happened to you, Naru. Anything at all. As you pointed out, there are some people in this village who foolishly… who don't like you much." Almost two mistakes in as many statements—Hiruzen was getting too old for this.

Silence reigned in the office for a long moment as Naru rocked back onto her heels.

"So… What happens now?" she asked in a meek voice, no doubt expecting trouble or punishment. Behind her, Inu cleared his throat and, for the first time since leaving the Forest of Death, began to speak.

"Hokage-sama, it is clear that Naru's skills must be reevaluated. If she managed to survive the Forest of Death for so long, it is clear that she is not an ordinary second-year Academy student."

"Are you offering to test her, Inu?" Hiruzen asked warily. The ANBU operative wasn't known for being proactively involved in, well, _anything_. For him to practically volunteer his time and services… As if unaware of the turmoil in his leader's mind, Inu shrugged nonchalantly.

"My time in ANBU is almost up, remember?" he pointed out. Hiruzen almost applauded the boy on masking the ire at his forced retirement, but the Hokage knew best. Hatake Kakashi had spent almost as much time in ANBU as out by this point in his life—he needed something a little less dark and twisted.

"Very well. You shall test Naru's abilities to the _fullest_ of your own capabilities. Naru, you may consider Inu's testing to be your punishment, as I'm sure you will not enjoy the process. We will be speaking again on this once Inu has compiled his reports and submitted them _on time,_ " Hiruzen emphasized. Inu nodded once, and Hiruzen knew it was likely only the ANBU mask that kept him acting like a professional. As soon as the mask was off, he'd no doubt be reading porn and eye-smiling at unsuspecting victims. It was a good thing, in some ways, that the Konoha Military Police was disbanded; for one, it meant that civilians didn't have an efficient way to complain about some of the more colorful shinobi protecting Konoha. Hiruzen clearly remembered some particularly long days and some exceptionally brutal paperwork that was left on his desk after Gai proposed a challenge to his eternal rival and nearly destroyed this district or that one. "Dismissed."

Perhaps, as he thought more on it, entrusting a child to Kakashi would be a poor idea… What's done was done, Hiruzen decided, and pushed the topic from his mind as Inu shooed Naru out of the office.

* * *

"Care to tell me what you were _really_ do in those woods?"

Naru should have known that she wasn't home free. Inu may not have walked her home, but she was a fool to have believed that she would be alone in her apartment after the scare the Hokage had just had. Even so, it was surprising that she hadn't seen or sensed Inu as he lazed about on her couch until he had spoken. Then again, he _was_ one of the elites…

Naru scowled at the older man. Yes, an elite. An elite that was currently perusing one of his books, lazily flicking through the pages and occasionally moving his hand away from his book long enough to scratch at his face. The ANBU mask had been pushed aside, but Kakashi's face was still almost completely covered by his cloth mask and his hitai-ate.

She had been seven when he had first appeared in front of her. She had been wandering home after going to the market place. She was emptyhanded in more ways than one; the shopkeepers had taken her money, yet still refused to give her any goods. She was starved and poor now, a very bad combination for a desperate child. She had run into Kakashi on her way home, where she had quickly literally collided with him and sent his bags falling to the ground. Luckily none of his groceries were damaged by the fall and, to Naru's amazement, he insisted that she take the loaf of bread that he'd bought. He told her quite determinedly that he had accidentally bought a second and had no trouble convincing the hungry girl to take the food. The two had crossed paths before, but rarely as obviously.

Kakashi had, of course, recognized Naru in an instant. She looked too much like _them_ for him to be able to ignore her once he'd seen her, heard her voice. He had never had the interest in visiting her house—that would have been far too creepy even for him—but he occasionally arranged her some good luck, either by leaving some money so that she could find it on the street or tormenting one of the rudest merchants in the district so he'd stop trying to hit her with a broom whenever she came close. Naru had never really forgotten Kakashi either—few enough people had been genuinely nice to her that she could remember them all quite clearly—and made a point of remembering his name and greeting him happily whenever she spotted him.

Now, however, she was not happy. He was invading her personal sanctum and, while it may not be externally protected by Kaito-san's seals anymore, this was the only place she had ever felt safe within the village. And he was _ruining_ it!

"Like I said, I was training."

"You told the Hokage that you needed to be strong enough, but you never actually said why. Don't think he didn't notice that, either. He's probably just giving you time to get your head on straight before talking again," Kakashi informed her casually. Naru scowled but, after glancing around her apartment, decided to stick with her mostly-truthful act.

"The Academy instructors don't like me. They won't let me graduate if I'm the same level as everyone else. I have to be above and beyond everyone to even have a chance."

"So this isn't just about power?" Kakashi asked indelicately. Naru crossed her arms angrily. It had been a very long day and she was not appreciative of this tactless interrogation.

"Of course not! I just want to be a kunoichi."

"No. You want to be _Hokage_ ," Kakashi corrected mildly. Naru reddened.

"I wanted to be a kunoichi first," she insisted. To her surprise, Kakashi didn't quickly press her with another annoying question. He stared at her silently, studying her, which was probably even more irritating. After a minute of silence, he got to his feet and shut his book with a soft snap.

"Be at training ground three at six in the morning. Bring all of your gear."

"But you stole it!" Naru growled as Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves. She groaned in frustration at the new pile of leaves in her apartment but, when she stepped closer to start cleaning them up, the leaves suddenly popped out of existence, leaving behind smoke that cleared to show her confiscated equipment. "Damn that man…"


	5. Chapter 5

It hadn't taken Naru much time to get to the training ground even though she had never been there before. All of the training grounds were arranged in concentric circles expanding away from the residential and business districts of Konoha, and each training ground was numbered for ease of access. Training ground three was in the first ring of grounds outside of the village proper so it wasn't an exceptionally long walk. The ten year old was still yawning as she arrived at a quarter to six thanks to the ridiculously early hour.

Intent on conserving as much energy as possible before Kakashi arrived, Naru settled down against one of the three training posts in the field and closed her eyes to meditate. By the time Kakashi eventually appeared in the training ground—close to three hours late—Naru was in such a deep state of meditation that she didn't open her eyes until Kakashi was just a few feet away from her.

"Good morning, Kakashi-niisan," Naru greeted in a soft voice, still unsure on whether or not she was in trouble. Kakashi, to her relief, didn't question her apparent shyness. Then again, he probably knew exactly what was going through her head, so it shouldn't have surprised her.

"Good morning," he replied in a cheery tone. "So this is how this is going to go: I'm going to tell you to do something and you will do it to the best of your ability. No holding back. Understood?"

"Hai," she said quietly.

"Wonderful! Now… To the Academy!" Kakashi smiled as Naru's face fell in exasperation.

 _Really?_

* * *

Kakashi and Naru arrived at the Academy just after 9:30, right when her normal class would be heading outside to the training yard to review shuriken and kunai throwing. Graduation was coming up fast and all ages of students were put through a review to see if they would be eligible for early graduation. Even though her classmates were only ten, they'd be watched carefully and a few of the most talented could be recommended to take the winter exam.

"Join the class," Kakashi had instructed. "You overslept."

"You mean you want me to—"

"Yes." The cheery attitude the man had displayed earlier was gone. He was dead serious. "Go down there and remember: do as you're told to the _best_ of your ability. No holding back allowed, or I'll know."

Naru's heartbeat raced with her mind. If she went down there and didn't hold back, everyone would know something was wrong. How was she expected to brush off going from deadlast to one of the best in the class overnight? How could she—

Her thoughts slammed to an abrupt halt as Kakashi wrapped an arm around her and easily hefted her over the fence separating them from the Academy students. Naru landed gracelessly in a mess of dust and limbs. Unfortunately, it hadn't just been the dirt to break her fall and she would have sworn she could hear Kakashi laughing at her as she disentangled herself from Inuzuka Kiba.

"Get off of me, idiot!" he growled, reaching for a kunai as impulsive as ever.

"Who are you calling an idiot, _dog breath?!_ "

"Uzumaki! You are late!" the chuunin instructor, a smirking woman named Amaya, roared at her. Naru shrank away from her, mentally cursing Kakashi for literally dropping her in this situation.

"Ah, sorry! I overslept," she lied, scratching the back of her head. "But I'm here now!"

"Yes… I suppose… Alright, class, you all know the drill! Kunai throwing first. Everyone form a line in front of the targets and wait your turn." The Academy students began going through the paces of practice. Each student was given three kunai to throw at a range of five targets, each farther than the last. Points would be determined by the distance to the target and the accuracy of the throw to the center of the target. The class lined up in alphabetical order so most of the class had already gone by the time it was Naru's turn to step up.

Just as Naru was holding her hand out to Takano Pei to receive the three kunai, she tensed.

"Ohayo!" a familiar voice greeted. Hatake Kakashi appeared behind her as if from nowhere. She had been wondering if he would show his face… "Am I interrupting?"

"H-Hatake-san!" Amaya stammered, stunned to see the famous jounin dropping in on her class. "Uh, not exactly interrupting. I was just- We were reviewing basic kunai throwing."

"Ah," Kakashi acknowledged in his warm and casual way. He glanced around at the class, smiling at the students. "And these must be your students, heh?"

"Who are you?" Uchiha Sasuke asked coldly, not bothering to answer Kakashi. Amaya paled slightly, but the jounin only chuckled.

"It's rude to demand someone's name without giving yours' first," he chided lightly.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Who are you?" Sasuke pressed. Kakashi yawned.

"I'm no one important, I guess. I just thought I would stop by to look at the cute little students." Turning to look at the chuunin sensei, Kakashi grew a touch more serious. "Hokage-sama wants me to take on a team soon, so I figured I'd look around at the future genin."

"Niisan, you interrupted me. I was about to throw my kunai," Naru pouted, intending to make him pay for this hell with all she had. Kakashi turned to face his sensei's daughter, a very convincing apologetic look on what was visible around his mask. Amaya opened her mouth to scold the girl before hesitating.

"Niisan?" she echoed. Kakashi nodded.

"Naru doesn't have family," a girl said scathingly. Kakashi turned, a pleasant look on his face but a very small amount of killing intent radiating away from him. The girl who had spoken squeaked, suddenly very afraid of the man that dead last Naru had called her brother.

"Well, Amaya-san, would I be imposing if I asked to watch your students practice?"

"O-Of course not, Hatake-san! You can stay however long you want. We were going to do kunai throwing before moving on to shuriken throwing and then basic endurance. Laps around the field, and such, and ending with one on one taijutsu spars."

"I see. Well, go on. Naru?" Kakashi asked, turning to the girl. She met his eyes before a mischievous grin flitted across her features. With Kakashi there as witness, she dropped the idiot mask for just a few moments and threw the three kunai at once. Each hit a different bull's eye, each one farther from her than the last. Turning to face Amaya, Naru was granted with the image of the chuunin struggling to recover from her shock, her mouth unbecomingly open.

"Very good, Naru," she eventually managed to say. "Go retrieve your kunai. Last is Yamanaka Ino."

"That was just luck," the blonde Yamanaka hissed at Naru as the latter passed her the blunted kunai. "You'll never be good enough for Sasuke-kun."

"I hope not," Naru shot back in a low voice. Ino glared at her before taking her place.

Practice continued as usual but this time, before Naru could prepare herself to go through the paces, Kakashi offered her a nod. Taking that as permission to show even a bit of her true ability, Naru easily outdid everyone in her class, much to the Uchiha's anger and everyone else's confusion. Even the chuunin instructor had no idea where Naru was getting all of her practiced ease from. All the while, Kakashi quietly became more and more impressed, knowing that everything she accomplished was a result of untold hours of hard work and training.

He watched the students at work, only truly paying attention once more when silence fell very abruptly. He looked up to see the last Uchiha, pinned helplessly to the ground by the supposed dead last.

Naru's face betrayed nothing as she released Sasuke silently. The boy glared at her uncomprehendingly and Kakashi noticed that his hand moved towards his arm, rubbing at his wrist where Naru had seized him.

"Good work, Naru-chan, but make sure that you keep his hands far enough apart so that he can't knock you off balance."

"Hai!" Naru smiled, accepting the advice with a nod. Kakashi turned to the chuunin sensei, who had walked towards Sasuke and had very quickly ensured that the boy wasn't physically hurt.

"Amaya-san, I have seen all I need of the students. Thank you for allowing me to watch," he said graciously. The chuunin swallowed but nodded quickly.

"Ah, it was no problem, Hatake-san. Please stop by at any time."

"Perhaps I will," he said noncommittally before looking towards Naru. "I'll be back to pick you up after class is over."

"You don't have a mission?" Naru asked, daring him not to. Kakashi grinned.

"It's nothing I can't be late to."

* * *

"I hope you enjoyed yourself," Naru grumbled as, true to his word, Kakashi was waiting for her when she was dismissed from lessons. "What exactly was the point of this?

"I wasn't lying," Kakashi defended half-heartedly. "Hokage-sama does want me to take on a team."

"... And you don't want to?"

"Why would I want to deal with a trio of sniveling brats who'd throw their teammates under the bus to avoid a scolding? No, I don't need that."

"Lazy," she accused. "You were supposed to be testing me, remember?"

"And I was. Hokage-sama just wants me to teach someone. He didn't say it had to be a full team. I was thinking of offering you an apprenticeship, seeing as you're probably the least obnoxious of your classmates. And I wouldn't have to do a lot for you to rise to chuunin level from what I've seen."

"So you get to do nothing while I do all the hard work?" Naru scowled. "What do I get out of this?"

"Removal from the Academy and registration as a genin of Konoha active immediately," Kakashi informed her smoothly. Naru skipped a step, barely catching herself from falling flat on her face. "And-"

"I'll do it," she decided. Kakashi looked at her with just a hint of surprise. At his unasked question, Naru glanced over her shoulder towards the Academy, where students were still filing away towards their parents to tell them about the day they'd had and what they'd accomplished on their way to being real shinobi. "In the Academy, the only way I'd ever be able to graduate and become a real genin is to stay on Sasuke's team. To do that, I'd either have to be the best or the worst in the class, and the chuunin won't let me be the best, no matter how hard I train or practice. To stay in the Academy... I'd be damning myself to two more years of that mask. I don't want to hide behind that mask, Kakashi-nii."

"Aa... Well then, Naru-chan," he began cheerily, "I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh. He'd long since learned that the most effective way to achieve his goals was to keep everyone else either off balance or uncomfortable, but it was difficult for him to keep aloof when forced to listen to the Council arguing about his rights as a jounin.

"Jounin Hatake is a village resource, Sandaime-sama," one of the advisors, Homura, argued. "While it is the norm for jounin of the village to extend apprenticeships to those they deem worthy, we must consider what this apprenticeship would cost the village. Each month he wastes teaching that girl—who can't even sufficiently pass according to Academy standards—the village is inundated with thousands of mission requests. Jounin Hatake is well-known despite his former association in ANBU. He is requested often enough that he cannot be allowed, for the good of the village, to be wasted on one student."

"That student is another village resource, Homura-san." Kakashi could have kissed the Nara clan head as he cut off the elder's tirade. "Uzumaki-san may be considered a failing student in the eyes of the curriculum, but she shares a class with my son, and many of our other children. I have heard reports from several students and staff at the Academy that lead me to believe that Uzumaki-san is being treated unfairly."

"Those reports are unsubstantiated," another voice—a lesser shinobi clan head—disagreed. "The Academy has been investigated several times since the… the student in question was entered. Each time, no evidence arose to lead credence to the accusations."

"Then maybe this Council should look at the investigators as well," Kakashi said, silencing the room for a brief moment. "Sandaime-sama had me re-evaluate Uzumaki-san's abilities, and part of my testing was to have her return to her Academy class without hiding any of her true ability and talent. The instructor in charge was blatantly biased against Uzumaki-san _and_ any children that did not come from a shinobi clan. I'd think that that would be a concern to this Council," he drawled, allowing his gaze to shift among the civilian portion of the room.

"What you're suggesting is out of—"

"Enough," Hiruzen interrupted clearly, eyes sharp. "Tradition dictates that any exceptional shinobi, such as Jounin Hatake, may be granted leave to train an apprentice. Hatake-san is a strong name in this village, and it is part of his responsibility as a ninja of Konohagakure to pass his knowledge on to the next generation."

"Hokage-sama, please. It is true that Hatake-san, like the rest of us, have a duty to the next generation, but there is more than one student in the Academy. If Hatake-san takes on Uzumaki as an apprentice, who will be available to teach Uchiha Sasuke? He is the last Uchiha loyal to Konoha—the potential for him to unlock his Sharingan is priceless. If Hatake-san is so insistent on teaching, he could just as easily choose Sasuke."

"If he has chosen Uzumaki-san as his apprentice, I will allow it. Until Uzumaki is prepared to take on C ranked missions regularly, Jounin Hatake will be required to take no less than one mission every two months to continue representing our village. This is not a decision to be made by the Council, though your concerns have been taken under advisement. If there are no further issues to be discussed, we are adjourned."


	6. Chapter 6

"So? How'd it go?" Naru was nervous, extremely so. Despite knowing that her jiji wouldn't let her down, it had been nerve-wracking to watch Kakashi leave in his nonchalant way to go determine her destiny.

Maybe that was a little dramatic, but Kakashi wasn't giving _anything_ away as he sprawled across her couch as if he owned it.

"The Council said no."

No. No. No.

If the Council said no, then she'd have to go back to the Academy! It'd be even worse now that everyone would know that she'd been lying this whole time! Amaya-sensei would hate her even more. She'd be kicked out of the program, and she couldn't be a kunoichi if she couldn't pass the Academy. What about being Hokage?

Naru could almost see her dreams unraveling as Kakashi took out his book and turned the page, thumbing whatever he decided to use as a bookmarker. She was frozen, so in shock that she couldn't react fast enough when he flicked the bookmarker at her so it struck her between the eyes.

"Damn it, Kaka—shi?" Naru's voice shook as she grabbed hold of the thing that had smacked into her. Her hands shook ever so slightly as the blue cloth unraveled to reveal a brand new Konoha hitai-ate.

"The Hokage said yes." In eight words, Hatake Kakashi had sealed his fate. Yes, Naru knew from that very moment: she was going to _murder_ him.

* * *

In the wake of her new apprenticeship, Naru found her life changing for the better. As an official genin, Naru was given legal access to most of the village training grounds. While it was still unadvised for her to go traipsing through the Forest of Death without supervision, she found herself drawn to the ancient forest to hone her survival skills between missions. The Forest of Death also allowed her to escape from some of the less content civilians populating the village.

The merchants, for the most part, hadn't taken her promotion very well. As a ninja village, crimes committed against shinobi were punished much more severely than crimes against no-name, civilian orphans. As a result, they couldn't so easily charge her any extra fees or get away with selling her the poorest quality wares. It also didn't help civilian-Naru relations that a few of the worst-behaved storeowners that insisted on treating her poorly were vanished. They all reappeared within a week of their disappearance, but they were never quite the same, displaying nervous twitches and irrational fears of shadows.

Naru was doing much better with the shinobi side of Konoha.

As a two-man team, Team Kakashi wasn't able to take on many of the traditional genin missions. Kakashi made it clear from day one that he didn't have the patience to supervise her during D ranks, so she effectively skipped them. They focused largely on getting her ready for C ranks, but she was assigned small administrative work to keep her bills paid.

One of the administrative tasks that she found herself doing often was working in the Academy. While she had absolutely hated spending time in the building as a student, and still disliked the amount of paperwork that came with the field of education, she found herself enjoying some of the behind-the-scenes work. Since she was so young, she was never brought into the classroom with the students, but she helped several of the instructors in grading assignments, making up reports, and ferrying files across the compound. There were some instructors who had tried to send her back to the mission office when she first arrived, but a quick sit-down with Sharingan Kakashi had almost all of them quailed.

The Academy had changed since her removal. Kakashi's comments to the Council had struck a chord with the civilians, who insisted on a more thorough investigation. Amaya and several other instructors were suspended and being investigated for tampering with grades so that civilian students were pushed out of the program. With no one else to take charge of the class, a younger chuunin by the name of Umino Iruka was hired and thrown into the chaos. On his third day, Naru ran into him as he mourned his career, sure that the fight that had broken out between Ino, Sakura, and several other girls would promise his dismissal. Seeing him so distraught, Naru promised to visit Iruka whenever she was done her administrative work to pass along her experiences with the class. It was slow-going, but Iruka began valuing the lessons he was picking up in her stories and he started to request her help formally. Iruka learned how to manipulate the personality-filled class he'd inherited, and Naru slowly but surely found a brother-like figure through their time organizing the mess Amaya had left.

In the actual classroom, not much had changed. Sasuke was still regarded as the strongest in the class, and he was constantly forced to fend off his rabid fangirls. It was assumed by most students that Naru had dropped out of the program and, while the class was a little quieter on some days, Kiba rose to the role of class clown admirably.

Naru spent most her days cursing Kakashi for alternating between a lazy pervert and a slave driver. Not all of his lessons were very effective—for which he shamelessly blamed on other senseis setting a bad example—but she was growing stronger in leaps and bounds. She never had to rely on her genjutsu again, and she began to be proud of who she was. When she wasn't working in the Academy, she was assisting the Hokage—a position that allowed her to see so many different ninja that her head was spinning with names and faces at the end of the day. She began to be recognized not as _the Uzumaki brat_ but as _Naru_. She was, for the first time that she could recall, happy.

* * *

"What do you say about trying a real C rank?" Kakashi asked as he let himself into Naru's apartment. Becoming used to his coming around uninvited, Naru didn't so much as sigh as she poured a second cup of tea for her sensei.

"In or out-of-village?" she asked hesitantly. Kakashi nodded as he accepted the mug from her. She turned ever so slightly to get milk for her drink and, by the time she turned around, his empty mug was placed on the counter and he was sprawled out on the couch with his book again.

"Out. Sandaime-sama has gotten reports of a wild bear terrorizing this or that village some forty miles away from the village. He's holding the mission to see if we'll take it. It'll be your first real C rank."

"A bear? Is that really worth a C rank?"

"It's far enough away from Konoha that there's a risk of bandits," Kakashi explained casually. "What do you think?"

Naru took a careful sip of her tea, closing her eyes.

"I guess I'll need to let Iruka-senpai know I won't be around to help him for a bit."

* * *

Team Kakashi fell into a familiar routine. Kakashi was required to take his missions every so often, leaving Naru in the village to do her work at the Academy or the Hokage Tower. While he was gone, she was forced to keep up on her training—either independently or with the help of any passing shinobi she suckered into it—or else she'd face her shishou's wrath when he returned.

When Naru was deemed ready for C rank missions after a month of training and administrative work, Team Kakashi began joining other genin teams for missions outside. The duo had worked closely with a number of genin teams that had allowed her to get to know other shinobi closer to her age. In the field, it didn't generally matter that the children's parents had told them to dislike her—they relied on her strength to keep them safe, and she relied on them in turn. There were only a couple of teams that she routinely worked with, but those teams helped make her time in the village better.

"Team Kakashi reporting for a C rank mission," Kakashi announced, allowing Naru to lead the way into the mission office.

"Just the pair I wanted to see," the elderly Hokage greeted with an indulging smile. He had had plenty of misgivings about allowing Naru to become a kunoichi so young but the proof of its benefits were right in front of him. Kakashi's extremely late reports might report that she had grown stronger over the past six months, but the Hokage didn't care about that; he could see Naru's happiness whenever she stepped into the office.

"Hello, Hokage-jii," Naru greeted warmly.

"Hello, Naru-chan. I have a mission that I'd like to see the pair of you working. You will be coordinating with Khan Matsu-san's team for the duration of the mission," the Hokage explained, holding a mission scroll out to Kakashi. He accepted it, opening it and reading it quickly. The Hokage could see under his trained eye how Kakashi's eye tightened ever so slightly when he reached a line halfway through the scroll but the jounin relaxed it so quickly that the Hokage doubted anyone else had caught the slip of emotion. "Jounin Kakashi, do you believe your apprentice to be ready to carry out this mission?"

First blood was an important rite of passage for any shinobi. Even if the opponent wasn't killed, drawing an enemy's blood opened young minds to some very sensitive and potentially dangerous questions. Most of the time, the village operated in a way that would allow for the genin to make their first kill in a controlled environment. It didn't always work—mistakes and surprises crop up in the field—but the mission outline Hiruzen followed had been set in place by the Senju before the foundation of the village. If Naru had been on a normal genin team, she would have gone through this mission before going on any C rank, but Naru's situation was anything but normal. Having Naru undertake this mission now, six months after she was accepted as a genin, was unusually late. Postponing the mission even further, however, could be even worse than getting it over with now.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said in a low voice, rolling up the scroll and placing it in his pocket. "We will join Matsu for this assignment."

"Very well. Good luck. And, Naru," the Hokage called as Kakashi placed a hand on his genin's shoulder to guide her away. "Remember why you are a kunoichi."

"Of course," Naru said, frowning with confusion. Before she could ask the leader any questions, however, Kakashi had already pushed her out of the office.

* * *

"I thought I'd find you here." Naru looked up to see Fugita Ko, one of the two male genin on Matsu's team, standing at the entrance to Ichiraku Ramen. He, like his teammates, was three years older than Naru. They hadn't graduated early, so they had only been genin for about a year when Naru had met them, but they had all content to take point on C ranks until Naru was strong enough to take up more of the work.

Ko was tall for his age, dwarfing the younger Naru, and he was solid muscle. Matsu's team was primarily geared towards a direct combat team, and Ko was the team's front man. He was strong and fast, good with taijutsu and kenjutsu, but his chakra control was spotty at best. He was the first of Matsu's team to give Naru a chance and, as a result, was one of Naru's best friends. She got along with Kira and Nago too, but Ko was the first real friend she made after leaving the Academy.

"Hey, Ko," Naru greeted with a bright smile, patting the stool next to her just as Teuchi set down a large bowl of miso ramen in front of her. Ko slid into the seat without further prodding, smiling at the old man and ordering his beef ramen. "What brings you here?"

"I was looking for you, actually. Matsu-sensei got the team together to go over what sort of mission we were doing and I wasn't sure how you'd be holding up."

"Holding up? What do you mean?" Naru asked. The concern in his eyes didn't make sense; was something wrong? Instead of dissipating, the concern only grew more serious.

"Didn't your sensei talk to you about the mission?" he asked with a frown. Naru shook her head.

"We usually brief before we leave the village," she said with a shrug. "Is there something different about this one that I should know about?"

"Naru… It's… This mission is…"

* * *

Kakashi knew something was wrong the moment Naru wasn't at the gate when he eventually strolled in. She was always on time, no matter how ludicrously early he asked her to come. It was true that she generally napped or meditated until he showed his face, but she was still always _there_.

So why, at ten o'clock in the morning, was she gone? Matsu and her brats were all standing around patiently, but Kakashi had worked with them long enough to realize that something was wrong with one of them. The big one, Ko, was normally spastic and easy going. That had been why he and Naru got along so well in the beginning. Now he was silent and there was a mournful light in his eyes, so Kakashi zoned in on him at once.

"What happened?" he demanded. Ko refused to meet his eyes for a moment and Kakashi repeated his question sharply.

"You didn't tell her about the mission," he finally said, looking up defiantly. "Someone had to."

Kakashi resisted the urge to smack the boy in the head. He glanced at Matsu, who was biting her lip uneasily, and sighed softly.

"Naru and I will meet you at the capitol. There was nothing in the mission objective indicating that we must travel together."

"Understood," Matsu nodded in acknowledgement. She and Kakashi might have been on the same level according to their rankings, but she would be a fool to argue that Kakashi wasn't her superior. "Team, move out."

"We're not waiting for Naru?" Ko asked quickly, stunned. Matsu shook her head, clearly not appreciating her student questioning her instruction.

"No. Kakashi and Naru will catch up. Let's go, _now_."

"Hai, sensei," Ko grumbled. The genin team moved out, leaving Kakashi alone at the gate. With a scowl hidden by his mask, he channeled chakra to his nose and tilted his face to the wind, trying to find Naru's scent. After dashing closer to the village center, where he had last seen her walking off towards Ichiraku Ramen, he finally caught her trail.

Naru was sitting against the front of the Memorial Stone when Kakashi ultimately tracked her down, her knees pulled up close to her chest. Her eyes were open, but downcast. Kakashi walked towards his apprentice slowly instead of shunshining in as per usual.

"Why?" she asked softly when he eventually came to a stop, just a few feet away from her. "Why do we have to do this?"

Kakashi was silent for a long time, at a loss of what to say. Eventually, he settled on what his own sensei had said. Minato hadn't spoken to Kakashi—no, he had been too logical and uncaring to accept his sensei's comforting words—but he had spoken to both Rin and Obito when the time for their first kills came around.

"Konoha is viewed as weak by the other villages because we put so much trust in our teammates… Those who believe in the Will of Fire are strong because they need to be in order to protect their loved ones and their village. In protecting our village, there are sometimes things that we cannot avoid. It is only by remembering why we act that we can continue."

"But this mission… is _murder_. Hokage-jii wants me to _murder_ someone." A shudder moved through Naru as she finally lifted her face to stare at her sensei. Her eyes were reddened from crying, but there were no more tears. All that shone from her eyes was confusion and defiance. "I saw it! In the Forest of Death—during the Chuunin Exams. And you're asking me to do that to someone else?!"

"No one is asking you to do anything. Your Hokage is _telling_ you to do this. And I, as your sensei, am _telling_ you that you're ready for it. Did Ko tell you who your target would be?"

"N-no."

"Konohagakure has a deal with the Daimyo for missions like this. The civilian court system reserves a number of convicted criminals—who would already have been sentenced to execution—for Konoha genin. Your target, the man or woman that you would be killing, is a threat to citizens of Hi no Kuni. They are not innocent people."

"Why do I have to do this? Can't I… What if I talk to Hokage-jii?" Naru asked desperately. Kakashi shook his head solemnly.

"Konoha policy has already been bent to put this off for so long. Most genin go through this assignment before being sent on C ranks because of the likelihood of run-ins with bandits. It's only because of your circumstances that you've been allowed on C ranks. The moment you put on that hitai-ate," Kakashi said, gesturing to the hitai-ate tied around her neck, "you became a shinobi of the Leaf. This is one part of that that you can't avoid forever."

Naru nodded despondently, recognizing an unwinnable argument when she saw one. She got to her feet and quietly followed her sensei to the village gates. He'd run her to the ground on the way to the capitol and, at the end of the day, she would become a killer at the age of ten.

Hiko Rhan was his name. His crime was the murder of another civilian, a middle-aged man named Ayaba Kenji. Kenji had been a husband and father of three, who had owned a small clothing store that specialized in imports from Kumo.

Naru didn't know why Rhan had done it, but she didn't ask as she drew the tanto she had borrowed from Ko. She tried to ignore the eyes on her—Kakashi, Matsu, Ko, Kira, Nago, and so many others—and even more desperately tried to not meet Rhan's eyes as he sized up his executioner. The gag in his mouth wasn't needed as he quietly stared her down. Just as she leveled the tanto at his heart, preparing to kill him as painlessly as possible, Naru tensed; a familiar look spread on her target's face.

He _smirked_ at her.

A rush of anger welled up in Naru's chest and her blade flashed, burying itself in the man's chest. He sputtered, coughing up blood into his gag. Naru held her tanto firmly, digging it deeper and deeper into the man until his uneven breathing finally stopped. She removed it slowly, ignoring the blood gleaming crimson on the metal as best she could, and silently turned to face her sensei. Kakashi, to her relief, didn't congratulate her or anything. He gave her a small nod and that was all.

Later, when Naru couldn't stop shaking and not even ramen could help, Kakashi stayed quiet. He fetched water, lingered in doorways, and laid a steadying hand on her shoulder, but he never said a word because he had been right.

She had been strong enough. Now it was his job to make sure she didn't fall apart when she'd gone so far.


End file.
